Light Chaser Animation Studios announced on June 20 that it has closed a US$20 million round of funding led by GGV Capital.

The self-proclaimed “China’s answer to Pixar” was founded by Tudor founder Gary Wang in 2013 after Tudou merged with Youku.

Gary Wang, is the founder and ex-CEO of Tudou.com, China’s leading video sharing website. His goal is to produce top quality animated films.

The company says it “aims to create world-class animated films with Chinese cultural touch.” The last 15 months have mostly been about attracting talent, and the studio is on track to finish its first feature film, Little Door Spirits, by July 2015. The movie has a US$12 million budget.

GGV managing partner Jixun Foo said in a statement, “It’s very exciting that Light Chaser’s animation and CG capabilities are already at a level close to Hollywood.”

Figures About China Film Industry

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (read report: Export China.gov) reports the Chinese box office brought in US$3.6 billion, up 27.5 percent on 2012. Next year that’s expected to grow more than 30 percent to US$4.6 billion. China’s homegrown films outperformed Hollywood’s offerings, taking seven of the top 10 highest grossing movie spots in the country… nice !

Watch extract of  “Little Yeyos”, the first short film by Light Chaser Animation here (also featured at the top of this post).

About Little Yeyos

(official description) – Little Yeyos are seven little spirits living in the mythological Chinese spirit world who wander about only at night. The little intern is always the one who gets ignored and taunted, including today, when he gets kicked out of bed by the female Yeyo to turn off the alarm clock. But the discovery of a mysterious dot of light changes things…if only for a little while.

Have a sneak peak of the Light Chaser Animation website: http://www.zhuiguang.com

Source: Export China, Light Chaser Animation News, GGV